Increasingly, nonprofits are turning to more flexible strategic frameworks instead of formal strategic plans to guide their board and staff. BoardSource's infographic, Nonprofit Strategy and Planning by the Numbers, outlines this evolution and describes different strategy and planning options, key qualities of strategic frameworks, and tips on how boards can monitor their progress towards organizational goals.
Strategic Planning
Terry Allebaugh had his "aha" moment when he was away from the office. He was at a workshop on executive transitions presented by the N.C. Center for Nonprofits with support from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC Foundation. He realized he'd fulfilled his work at Housing for New Hope (HNH), which he founded "to prevent and end homelessness one valuable person at a time." After 20 years as executive director, he realized it was time to move aside and let new leadership take the helm. He wasn’t ready to retire, but he was tired of the CEO's administrative responsibilities.
Strategic Planning for Nonprofits - "A strategic planning process identifies strategies that will best enable a nonprofit to advance its mission. Ideally, as staff and board engage in the process, they become committed to measurable goals, approve priorities for implementation, and also commit to revisiting the organization’s strategies on an ongoing basis as the organization's internal and external environments change.
Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2008 "Building Leaderful Organizations: Succession Planning for Nonprofits" seeks to continue detoxifying the topic of nonprofit succession planning so that executives, boards, staff, and funders can take up these activities without unnecessary fear or concern and provides nonprofit boards and executive directors a framework for their own succession planning activities.
Excerpt below. Download the full 34-page PDF at bottom.
The board is fundamentally responsible for defining the organization's mission and what it strives to accomplish, usually through a strategic planning process. The board must be involved in the portions of planning involving philosphical and strategic decisions, but may assign responsibility for tactical planning to the staff.
Ten-Step Strategic Planning Process Exercise Who are we?1. Create, change or affirm an organization vision and mission.
Looking to develop a risk management program? Risk Management for Nonprofit Organizations outlines five key steps in the risk management process. (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
If you're looking for a venue to host the staff retreat, strategic planning, or other meeting for your organization, this list of retreat centers and other regional venues across North Carolina is a great place to get started.